booze and snacks, a perfect combination
the place: deep ellum, 447 cambridge st, allston
the date: sunday, 03.15.09
the plan: cocktails and fries
as already detailed, this was the weekend of the hangover, and by late sunday I was feeling pretty tired. but I couldn’t waste the gorgeous day, so ryan and I did some walking around before he had to head to the airport. I wanted a cocktail, ryan wanted fries, so we decided on deep ellum and after some questionable parking shennanigans, we made it and got the table in the window.
drinks, of course: usually I go to deep ellum for the beer (specifically, the aventinus weizenbock, which tastes wonderfully of spice and makes me think of gumdrops), but they also have a way with cocktails, and neither of us could handle beer after two days of drinking. so casey, the delightful hipster bartender, provided me with the aviation and ryan with the summer in sau paulo. I don’t drink tequila and find that the cachaca tastes more of tequila than rum, so I didn’t sample ryan’s, but it looked refreshing and strong and later reports were that he fell asleep at the airport, so I imagine it did the job. the aviation is part of my ongoing attempts to increase my enjoyment of gin and it definitely worked— lemony and cold with just a bit of the bite of gin underneath. delicious.
to start: oh the fries. I once went to this fantastic sandwich place in portland (called duck fat, if you’re in portland, don’t miss it) and the fries are served, as they are at deep ellum, belgian style in the cone with a choice of dipping sauce. I had the truffled ketchup and I really wanted not to really care about the truffle oil addition one way or the other. but, of course, I am a person who cannot resist that deep earthy taste, especially when added to something tart and vinegary. now regular ketchup always feels a little disappointing. at deep ellum, they offer “fries 4 ways” and we chose the truffle mayo and parmesan option. sprinkled with bits and larger shavings of paremesan, the fries themselves were crispy and salty and fantastic. the truffle oil does something different to the mayo, already rich and thick, than it does to ketchup, but I wasn’t complaining— still tasty. especially when also dipped in the ketchup.
we left the bar around 6:40 and I spent the rest of the evening in, so it was really the perfect end to a gorgeous afternoon that made me finally start to believe that spring is actually coming soon.
